“DG, you stay right behind me, okay? Look out for trouble.”

The Ghoul grunted.

“Okay boss.”

Something about this didn’t feel right. Ghouls didn’t lounge around in the open looking all cocky and amused. But if Peter was going to be a real clan leader then he needed to put on a show for them.

He glanced to his left. The other two were long gone now. It was just him and Dumbo Ghoul.

Of course I could always yell for KG, but that’s not going to look very confident.

He walked across the street, holding his head high but with one hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Are you alone?” he said to the new Ghoul.

Up close the creature didn’t seem very different from any other Horde. He was dressed in the usual ghoul rags, and his head sprouted a shock of straggly white hair.

Peter’s eyes widened when he got a good look at it’s status.

-

Common Horde; Lvl 5; 100% -

He’s higher level than any of us.

The creature must have understood his expression. Its grin faded away and it was suddenly more guarded.

“All alone, that’s right. Nobody here but me.”

I’m wearing Raider Gear but he doesn’t seem to be hostile, either.

This was all very suspicious.

Peter frowned at him.

“I’m Raider Ghoul. I lead Carnage Clan. Why are you here?”

The ghoul pushed itself up from the ground with a groan, and stood facing Peter.

Peter tensed, readying himself to jump if it made a leap at him.

“I watched you,” it said. “I saw the fight with the Raiders.”

“And?”

It shrugged.

“You look strong,” it said. “That was a good fight.”

Peter looked him up and down.

“You’re higher level than any of those Raiders.”

The ghoul nodded.

“I didn’t stay alive this long by jumping into fights I’m not part of.”

Peter realized that the ghoul’s language was way better than any of his own clan. There were no broken sentences, no mangled syntax.

Dumbo Ghoul grunted.

“This an old guy,” he said. “Been around a long time.”

The new ghoul nodded again.

“My clan is dead. Players. I ran and hid.”

Dumbo Ghoul seemed to think this was a reasonable story.

“Leader die, everyone die, just run away and stay alive is good plan.”

The two of them seemed to understand each other. Peter was more suspicious, but he looked the ghoul up and down.

“If you join our clan, you will submit to me. I am leader of Carnage Clan.”

The ghoul shook its head.

“That’s no good. We have to fight.”

“We do?”

“I’m older. Been around longer. Can’t just say okay, you’re the leader. If I join, we fight.”

Peter looked at Dumbo Ghoul.

“What do you think?”

This was obviously another part of Ghoul society that he needed to learn. Dumbo Ghoul wasn’t clever but he knew how things were supposed to go.

“He right,” DG said. “Raider Ghoul have to fight him to stay leader.”

Peter sighed.

“How about we tell you no, just go away?”

The old ghoul grinned again and looked at Dumbo Ghoul.

“You think Raider Ghoul is afraid of me?”

DG frowned and stared at the ground. He looked like he didn’t want to answer, but his silence was loud enough for Peter.

Level 5. Not an optimal match right now. Plus I’m out of stims.

But it didn’t look like he had a choice. Hopefully the ghoul’s obvious age might make him an easier target, but he didn’t think it was going to work that way.

“Hang on,” Peter said. “I’m wearing Raider Gear. How come you didn’t just attack me?”

“Saw you fight. You have a clan. I don’t like that stuff you’re wearing but I’m not stupid.”

Peter thought about his shield generator.

Let’s leave that alone for now. I need at least one surprise up my sleeve.

There wasn’t anything else to discuss, obviously. He couldn’t lose respect from his clan. That he could not allow.

Peter walked back down the steps and stood in the open on the street, and raised his arms wide.

“Fight me,” he said.

The old ghoul didn’t hesitate at all. Without a word it leapt through the air at Peter and whipped out a jagged piece of metal from his rags at the same time.

Shit!

Peter dodged to one side and pulled out his gladius. But before he could raise his arm the old ghoul whipped around and slashed at Peter. He moved shockingly fast.

That’s what I was afraid of.

Peter wasn’t sure what to do. The ghoul was obviously faster and stronger. All he could do was a frontal assault and hope the creature's stamina might not hold up. He mentally readied himself to flick on his shield generator.

He charged at the ghoul and grabbed its arm as it hacked at him. He got a grip but the creature’s hand swiveled around like a snake and dug the sharp metal into Peter's wrist.

Health -5% (95)

He hissed in pain but threw himself against the ghoul, trying to use his weight to throw it off balance. He hooked one leg around it and half-pushed, half fell.

To his surprise the ghoul collapsed backwards onto the ground and let out a whoosh of air.

He didn’t wait. He jumped on top of it and landed hard on its chest, with his gladius pointed at the ghoul’s throat.

The old ghoul smiled at him.

“Okay boss, you win,” he said.

“You give up?”

“You’re stronger than me. I lose. You’re the leader.”

He stared at it in silence for a second.

Ah. So this was… symbolic?

But it probably wouldn’t do to say that out loud.

“Okay,” Peter said, going along with it. “You do what I say and I won’t kill you. Welcome to Carnage Clan.”

He felt something sharp pricking his belly, and realized that the metal shard had found its way between them.

“I can train you in hand to hand,” the old ghoul said quietly. “Some bad Horde could pull your guts out.”

Peeter nodded and stood up, offering his hand to the old ghoul, who took it and got up with a groan.

Old Ghoul

Common Horde; Lvl 5; 100% Carnage Clan

Old Ghoul? That won’t do. He needs a better name.

Dumbo Ghoul was smiling at the two of them. Peter wasn’t sure if he really understood what had just happened, but he wasn’t going to push it. He could probably ask KG about it later. Or… Chester? That was a good old guy’s name.

“Your name will be Chester,” Peter said, pointing at the old ghoul. He didn’t know if it would work once the system had already come up with a name, but to his satisfaction his label changed instantly.

Chester

Common Horde; Lvl 5; 100% Carnage Clan

“Okay boss,” grinned Chester.

“Hang on,” Peter said. How had he not thought about it until now? “Did someone send you here to meet us?”

“Someone?” Chester said. His smile didn’t move. “Not sure what you mean, boss. I lost my clan. Heard the noise from you fighting Raiders, hid and watched.”

“Our Mystic talked to the Dead Horde. They told us they would send someone to help us.”

Chester made that danger-warding finger movement.

“Not me,” he said. “Don’t like that stuff. Too spooky.”

“Tell you what,” Peter said. “Me and Dumbo Ghoul are out looking for new Clan members. You’re our first recruit. How about you come along and help us?”

“Sure,” said Chester. “Three Horde make us look…”

He froze.

“Bad news,” he said. “Wyvern hunting us.”

Peter froze in place and made a motion to DG to do the same.

“Where?”

Chester nodded up towards a nearby roof.

“Hiding behind things, but I saw him. He will jump soon.”

As mobs went, Wyverns weren’t the worst. At least to a decently equipped player. They could be trouble for newbs if a swarm of them came along. But for Peter and DG and even Chester, even one could be a threat at their levels and with their gear.

How are we supposed to gain experience if everything and anything can kill us with almost no effort?

But the answer to that was obvious. For a ghoul, the answer was always in numbers.

“Alone?” he said. “You sure?”

“I think so. Maybe.”

These weren’t real classical Wyverns of course, they just had a basic resemblance to a long, spiky-tailed flying lizard. Where they came from was anyone’s guess, but they were Nexus mobs. They did have a mouthful of nasty sharp teeth though, and more importantly a poisoned spike in their tails.

Peter didn’t want to take cover and wait the thing out. They’d barely moved from the nest so far. But he didn’t want to start losing his clan members again either.

God damn, I wish I had a rifle.

He sighed and pointed to a nearby door.

“When I say, run in there, and we’ll see if we can find a route with some cover on the other side.”

Chester and DG nodded.

“Now!”

He bolted at the ruined building, trusting to the others to do the same.

The second they all started moving there was a screech from above, and he heard the flapping of leathery wings.

Peter jumped through the doorway and whirled around, readying his blade.

Chester sprinted through after him.

That old ghoul can move when he needs to.

DG had the rear, since he moved slower than either of them. As he jumped inside there was a flat thud and the Wyvern landed on the ground behind him, its tail whipping around instantly and flicking towards Dumbo Ghoul.

Too slow, damn it.

But Chester leaped forward and grabbed DG, pulling him out of range of the poisoned spike as it slashed through the air inches from his neck.

The two of them fell together on the floor, and DG started laughing.

“You really fast, Chester!”

He is that. Really fast.

Peter wondered what other surprises Chester had for them.

The Wyvern’s head darted into the building, snapping blindly. Peter leaped forward and slashed back at the beast, landing a decent hit and opening a gash on the thing’s hide.

It screeched and jumped back out into the street, then took off with a great flapping of its wings. It disappeared above again.

“Good eyes, Chester.”

The ghoul nodded and looked around the ruins.

“All that noise you make fighting Raiders, Wyvern might not be the only thing decide to see what was going on.”

It was a fair point. They needed to move carefully until they were far away from the nest.

This building was mostly an empty shell - the front and back walls were blown out, and patches of the floor above drooped menacingly over their heads.

Peter pointed.

“Let’s see what’s on the other side. I want to head down towards the tall ruins.”

Chester nodded carefully, but kept looking around.

“What’s up? What do you see?”

It might be smart to trust the ghoul’s experience. Cautiously, at least. He’d obviously survived a lot longer than the average ghoul pack member. It was probably worth seeing what they could learn from him.

“Think I’ve been here before,” Chester said. “Looks like it…”

The Ghoul dropped down on all fours and scuttled towards a wrecked stairwell. The stairs going up were in ruins. It looked like they had headed down into a basement once as well, but that way was jammed with wreckage.

Peter followed him, but scanned all around carefully. It was time to start scouting for items as well.

“Hey Chester,” he whispered. “You ever hear of a nanocrystal interface bus?”

The ghoul looked back and frowned.

“Sounds like Biomorph stuff. I don’t touch that, it makes them mad.”

“Well, I need one. Somehow we have to get our hands on one.”

Chester went back to snuffling at the stairwell.

“I tell you if I see any Biomorph stuff, that’s all I can do.”

Dumbo Ghoul was following along behind Chester, watching everything he did. He seemed to think Chester was the coolest ghoul he’d ever seen.

Could be worse people for him to learn from, I guess.

There was no obvious way upstairs, but that was intriguing on its own. It probably meant that nobody had scouted up there, and there might be good stuff just sitting around waiting for them. He pulled at a dangling banister, wondering if it would support his weight.

“Hah!” Chester said suddenly. He pulled on a piece of wreckage in the stairwell, and it came away, leaving an opening heading down into the darkness.

“It’s a secret tunnel?” Peter said.

“Good Horde always know where the secret places to hide are.”

I guess I don’t qualify as a good ghoul just yet.

Peter hated to give up on the floor above, but it wasn’t going anywhere and they needed to get moving and find more ghouls. He wondered how Charlie and Bill were doing. He hadn’t seen any updates on their status so presumably they were still alive and not fighting anything.

“Let’s take a look, Chester. After you.”

The ghoul scrambled through the hole and Peter let DG follow after him. It was a tight fit and Peter was ready to help with a push if it was needed, but he squirmed through.

Ghouls are like weasels. We can fit in just about anywhere.

Peter came last, and wiggled his way along behind the two of them. It was dark and tight, but his Horde vision let him make out the jumble of wreckage that made up the tunnel. It went mainly down, and before long they passed through what looked like a concrete wall, and then they were surrounded by dirt and rock. All he could see ahead was the outline of DG’s big ghoul butt.

They kept crawling until they reached what looked like another concrete wall, and moved parallel to that for a ways.

Then suddenly DG disappeared ahead of him, and light flooded into the tunnel.

It was a broken gap in the wall. Peter poked his head out.

Chester and DG were crouching in a long concrete tunnel, lined with pipes.

“This way good and safe,” Chester said. “Tunnels go all over the place.”

It was some kind of utility tunnel system, obviously. Peter looked carefully around, trying to memorize the look of the place in case he needed to find his way back alone.

A notification popped up.

Skill Unlock

Horde Travelways Lore

+1 Now Level 1

You’ve found a secret Horde tunnel. Once you’re good at it, you will be able to sense other ways to crawl around unseen. Right now you’re aware that they exist. That’s something, at least.

So there are ghoul-specific skill trees. Neat.

He needed to debrief Chester and see what some other skills might be. It was obvious there were options that he couldn’t access right now just because he didn’t know they existed. Having access to a higher-level Horde was a big help in that direction.

“Like I said, we need to find Horde,” he said. “Alone ones, by preference.”

Chester nodded.

“Good safe place down here. But no food and not many horde, so we need to go up again and look for them.”

“Does everyone know about the tunnels?”

Peter was wondering why nobody in his little clan had even bothered to mention them.

Chester made a scoffing noise.

“Pffft. Not many even know about the secret ways these days. That is special lore for strong Horde.”

Not like good reliable Horde from the old days, I guess.

“I think… if my directions are still good then we want to head that way” - Peter pointed - “to go towards the tall ruins, yes?”

Chester nodded and motioned for them to follow him, and scuttled down the tunnel confidently.

There was no sound at all except for the shuffling of their feet. Not even the squeak of a rat. It probably would have been pitch black to a player, but the tiny bits of light shed from an occasional indicator panel or bit of luminescent fungi was enough for ghoul eyes.

The tunnel was choked with debris in sections where the roof had started to collapse, and they had to clamber over those and squeeze through little gaps, but for the most part it was a straight run.

Until they finally reached an intersection. Tunnels branched away in three directions, but Chester didn’t hesitate a bit, and pointed.

“This way goes to the tall places, but maybe we go up here? Look for alone Horde.”

On the wall there was a rusted ladder heading upwards into a dark accessway in the ceiling.

Peter nodded, but then hesitated.

“I’ll go first. DG you take up the rear, okay? Chester, you can stay between us.”

Neither of them objected. If Chester was aware of the implied suspicion, he ignored it. DG was oblivious, of course.

Surprisingly, though the ladder chipped and flaked under his hands it didn’t collapse, and ended up in an sqare metal plate, a bit like a manhole cover but smaller. Peter looked down at Chester.

“What do I do? Just go straight up?”

“Push up, look out for trouble, go if it safe. That’s all.”

It was rusty and it took all of his strength to move the thing, but he budged it up a couple of inches as quietly as he was able and peered out, listening carefully.

It looked like the basement of another building. Compared to the tunnel it was bright enough to see everything.

He was staring directly at a ghoul’s head, which was peering out around a pile of bricks back at him.

They ogled at each other for a moment.

“What you see?” said Chester.

“Horde. Just one.”

“You look out, maybe he have friends.”

That was obvious enough.

“We don’t want trouble,” Peter said to the ghoul, and to anybody else who might be listening.

“Me too,” hissed the ghoul.

The voice instantly gave it away as female.

“Any other Horde here?” Peter said. “Your clan going to jump us if we come up?”

The ghoul just shook its head.

Peter pushed the metal plate to one side, just enough for him to fit through, and put one hand on his sword.

“I’m wearing Raider gear, but I’m Horde, okay?”

He poked his head out a bit farther and quickly scanned the room. There was a door in one wall, with a small pile of debris leaning against it.

“You trying to keep something out?”

The ghoul nodded.

“Saw players. Ran and hid.”

He couldn’t see any obvious trap and he needed to look confident, after all. So he pushed himself up and into the room, pulling out his blade and scanning all around for trouble.

The ghoul hissed when she saw what he was wearing.

He raised his hand.

“I’m Raider Ghoul, leader of Carnage Clan. We killed Raiders and took their gear. That’s why I’m dressed like this. I’m Horde, not a Raider.”

He wanted to make sure she understood.

But she had sunk down lower behind her pile of bricks. Her eyes were watching him suspiciously.

“Come on up guys,” he said.

Once the other two were with him, she looked around at them all, and seemed to calm down a little.

“You see,” he said. “We’re all good Horde here.”

She stared hard at Chester and DG again, then nodded slowly.

“You see players?” Chester said. “They near?”

She pointed at the little pile of garbage she’d piled up against the door.

“Outside,” she whispered. “See them fighting Horde.”

“How many?”

Peter had to admit that Chester was zeroing in on the relevant information very efficiently. The ghoul’s experience was obvious.

She shook her head.

“Don’t know, didn’t wait to see. Ran in here.”

Peter thought it was time he took charge again.

“Do you want to be safe?” he said.

She stared at him blankly.

At that moment there was a rattle of gunfire from outside. It wasn’t close, but he would know that sound anywhere. He was near players again for the first time since his transition to ghoul.

But he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to just shout a friendly hello and expect them to stop firing. Though he still planned to give it a try at the earliest possible moment.

For now though, keeping his little clan safe took priority.

He looked at the crouched figure of the new ghoul again.

“Join Carnage Clan. We will keep you…”

Before he could finish the sentence there was shouting from somewhere nearby, on the other side of the door, followed by a whooshing noise that he knew only too well.

“Down!” he yelled and dove for the floor.

He’d barely even hit the ground before the explosion from the RPG round blasted the door inward in a shower of smoke and bits of door.